March 2009

Saw this Proactiv acne skin care vending machine at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. I think it’s an odd place to be selling Proactiv because it’s not really something you would buy as a gift and it’s not something you would need immediately on a plane.

Now, if the machine sold Snuggies or Shamwow, that would be a different story.

Steudel’s team tested both male and female runners at six different speeds on a treadmill while measuring their oxygen intake and carbon dioxide output. As expected, each runner had different levels of fitness and oxygen use but there were ideal speeds for each runner that required the least amount of energy.

Overall, the optimal speeds for the group were about 8.3 mph (about a 7:13 minutes per mile) for males and 6.5 mph (9:08 min/mile) for females.

The most interesting finding: At slower speeds, about 4.5 mph (13 min/mile), the metabolic efficiency was at its lowest. Steudel explains that at this speed, halfway between a walk and a jog, the runner’s gait can be awkward and unnatural.

“What that means is that there is an optimal speed that will get you there the cheapest,” Steudel says.

A bat that was clinging to space shuttle Discovery’s external fuel tank during the countdown to launch the STS-119 mission remained with the spacecraft as it cleared the tower, analysts at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center concluded.

Based on images and video, a wildlife expert who provides support to the center said the small creature was a free tail bat that likely had a broken left wing and some problem with its right shoulder or wrist. The animal likely perished quickly during Discovery’s climb into orbit.

The New York State attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, said on Monday that he had persuaded nine of the top 10 bonus recipients at the American International Group to give the money back, as the Senate retreated on plans to tax such bonuses.…“If the person returns the money, I don’t think there’s a public interest in releasing the names,” Mr. Cuomo said in a conference call with reporters.

I am somewhat surprised that they’ve managed to get 9 of 10 to return the bonuses. But, I guess the “threat” of being outed to the angry masses was a pretty effective tool.

I wonder if they just can’t find the 10th guy or is the person thinking “screw you, I’m going to take my chances with the money”.

Edward M. Liddy, the embattled chief of American International Group, is expected to ask employees who received lucrative bonuses to give half the money back.

According to a person briefed on Mr. Liddy’s plans, the A.I.G. chief will announce his plan during testimony this afternoon before a Congressional committee that is investigating the problems at company.